Honestly, when I look at memecoins I can see almost no difference between them and going to a nearby casino, thinking you're going to make it big at gambling. But 99% of the the people who believe that end up losing, instead.
Perhaps the "professional gamblers" do end up making a big bag, and everyone else looks to that as "that's what you get," forgetting that to become a professional is not "money for nothing," but the result of likely years of experience and 1000s of hours of research and study... we overlook that the "..for nothing" part of the equation isn't actually that...
You're right, the ones who are the OGs are actually making some money and that's probably because theyve lost money too in the past and have probably mastered the art of gambling. The ones who haven't mastered it are probably going to learn the hard way.
Memes are addictive because of the way it promises a lot of gains on the surface